Rangers Buy Out Redden, Notes From Practice, Plus A Minor Trade

The Wade Redden Error, as it's been termed all over Twitter, is officially over. After clearing waivers, the Rangers officially bought him out of the remaining two years of his contract and he is now free to sign anywhere. I'll give Redden credit where it's due - he never complained after he was sent down to Hartford two seasons ago, and players and coaches on the Whale have repeatedly talked about what a positive veteran influence Redden provided while on the team. I'm sure it's not easy for guys like Redden who get exiled to the AHL or elsewhere after once being an accomplished NHL player. No matter who you are, I'm sure your ego takes a hit. So, farewell, Wade. I'll be interested in seeing if any NHL teams out there are willing to bring him in on a low-cost signing.

Speaking of being bought out, Scott Gomez was also bought out by the Montreal Canadiens today. Gomez, of course, will go down as one of the best Ranger free agent signings in history considering Glen Sather was able to turn him and his bloated contract into a package that landed the Rangers LW Chris Higgins, D Pavel Valentenko and some other kid defenseman named Ryan McDonagh. Thanks again, Montreal!

As for practice today, Brad Richards returned to the ice for the first time this week after battling the flu all week. The Rangers worked mainly on their Power Play units, which consisted of the following lines:

5-on-4 lines:
Marian Gaborik-Ryan Callahan-Rick Nash
Brad Richards-Michael Del Zotto

Carl Hagelin-Derek Stepan-Taylor Pyatt
Anton Stralman-Dan Girardi

5-on-3 lines:
Marian Gaborik-Ryan Callahan-Rich Nash
Brad Richards-Derek Stepan

Carl Hagelin-Brian Boyle-Ryan Callahan
Michael Del Zotto-Dan Girardi

I'm a bit surprised that John Tortorella didn't give Chris Kreider a look on either power play unit, but it's hard to read too much into anything this early. Tortorella still has not guaranteed that Kreider will make the team and even went as far as to say he thought Kreider was "God awful" in some playoff games last year. Kreider struggled during his time in the AHL with the Whale this season, but I'd be absolutely shocked if he gets sent back down. If the Rangers were willing to let him play and take his bumps during the playoffs last year, I have to believe they'll be willing to let him continue to learn the game at the NHL level.

Some other notes from practice from this week:

- Aaron Asham will miss the season opener on Saturday in Boston because he still has one game left to sit out dating back to his suspension for a hit on Brayden Schenn in the playoffs last year when Asham was with the Penguins. Because of that the Rangers recalled RW Brandon Segal from the Connecticut Whale, although he isn't expected to dress for Saturday's game.

- The lines on Saturday, based on practice from this week, will likely be:

Carl Hagelin-Brad Richards-Rick Nash
Marian Gaborik-Derek Stepan-Ryan Callahan
Chris Kreider-Brian Boyle-Taylor Pyatt
Mike Rupp-Jeff Halpern-Stu Bickel

Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Anton Stralman
Michael Del Zotto-Steve Eminger

Henrik Lundqvist
Martin Biron

As always, you can expect these lines to fluctuate as the game goes along, and as it gets later in the game you'll likely be seeing very little of Rupp, Halpern, Bickel and Eminger.

- Finally, the Rangers made a small trade of minor leaguers late last night, trading LW Tommy Grant and a conditional late-round pick in the 2014 Entry Level Draft to the San Jose Sharks for LW Brandon Mashinter. Mashinter, 24, is 6-foot-4,  230 pounds and adds some size and toughness to the roster. He's appeared in 13 career NHL games with the Sharks and racked up 17 PIMs. This is a classic Glen Sather trade, who never turns up a chance to add some size to his hockey team.

Rangers Might Pay Wade Redden $5M To Spend Rest Of Season On His Couch

One of the bigger stories surrounding the Rangers since the lockout ended has been what the team will do with Wade Redden. Yes, Wade Redden. Redden, of course, signed a mammoth six-year, $39 million deal with the Rangers in July of 2008, and after two terrible seasons on Broadway the defenseman was exiled to the Connecticut Whale and hasn't been heard of since.

That is, until now.

Under the new CBA, the owners and NHLPA agreed on what is being dubbed the "Wade Redden Rule," which essentially means that teams no longer have the ability to hide free agent bust contracts like Redden in the minors. Now, anybody who is playing in the AHL and has a salary over $900,000 will count against the salary cap. That means the Rangers will have roughly a little over $5 million left of Redden's $6.5 million salary counting against the cap this season. Oh, and he also still has one more year with a $6.5 million salary left on his deal after this season.

As Bob McKenzie of TSN discusses, the Rangers have three realistic options:

"It would be nice for the Rangers to entirely get rid of Redden's cap hit this season and next but what's behind Door No. 1 isn't an attractive option. That is, give up an asset or assets (draft picks and/or prospects) as inducements to get another team with lots of cap space to take Redden in a trade.

The Rangers won't like that because they don't want to deplete any future considerations on what amounts to a housekeeping matter for them.

Door No. 2 would be to send Redden to the AHL, absorb his $5 million-plus cap hit this season, which they have room for because teams can spend to $70M this season, and then use a compliance buyout this summer to erase the problem for next season. Compliance buyouts do not count against the salary cap.

But that route is fraught with peril. If Redden were to get hurt in the AHL this season and the injury carried over to the summer, an injured player cannot be bought out. Were that to happen, the Rangers could get saddled with Redden's full $6.5M cap hit next season and under no circumstances can they allow that to occur. Next year's cap shrinks to $64.3M and it would be a disaster if the Rangers had to account for Redden's $5M+ instead of having no cap hit on a compliance buyout.

Which bring us to Door No. 3.

The only other option for the Rangers is to take Redden's cap hit this season but not play him. Not in New York. Not in the AHL. Not anywhere.

Put him in bubble wrap, cold storage and call it a year. Make sure his cheques show up on time and wait for the compliance buyout period this summer and cut all ties."

So, in all actuality, the best option is to literally pay Wade Redden over $5 million for the rest of the season to literally do nothing. Let me repeat that: the best option is to pay Wade Redden over $5 million for the rest of the season to literally do nothing. We should all be so lucky.

I can't see any scenario that involves Redden ever suiting up for the Rangers again. For starters, John Tortorella would likely have no use for him, even as an extra defenseman, because Redden was that bad during his time as a Ranger. Secondly, the Garden Faithful turned on Redden so badly that they even booed Jeff Woywitka at times early last year when he would touch the puck simply because he wore Redden's dreaded No. 6.

Either way, this is not the last we'll hear of the Redden situation within the next few weeks.